Nothing is as constant as change. The small summer festival on the enchanted monastery mountain, the Adlersberg, just outside Regensburg can tell a thing or two about it. It was once founded as a small East Bavarian peak of early music by the legendary and long-dissolved vocal ensemble Stimmwerck. Five years ago, Singer Pur assumed artistic responsibility for the three concert days and musicological day academy. In addition to the idea and a loyal regular audience, they also inherited the special magic of the triad of church, tavern and vocal music from the old days.
The handover went very well, but the narrow, monothematic concentration has long since opened up because Singer Pur’s repertoire is so much broader than the festival’s founders, who specialize in early vocal music, ever were. And change does not stop at them either. Most recently, after two decades, the soprano Claudia Reinhard and the tenor Markus Zapp left the ensemble as the last remaining founding members, followed by Claire Elizabeth Craig and Marcel Hubner. This has to settle and recalibrate in such a sensitive and finely seasoned sound quality.
There is not a moment’s doubt about the continuation of the outstanding quality in the three concerts, it’s more the artistic feed and the blind understanding that has to be found again. The outstanding sovereignty that has distinguished the ensemble so far is still missing, especially in the small moments at the beginning, in some tonal assignments and in the conclusion of the pieces.
The fifth “Singer Pur Days” were all about chanson in the broadest sense. The core was formed by the recently re-edited collection of vocal works by the Franco-Flame Jacques Buus, published in Venice in 1543, framed by music from his contemporary environment and our time, primarily by female composers. The guest soprano Flore van Meerssche from Belgium joined as a superb sound variation.
Enchantingly beautiful moments reward the courage to think in new ways
The Bulgarian pianist, singer and composer Stanislava Stoytcheva (born 1975) was invited as “composer in residence”. As an idiosyncratic but characterful contrast, Margit Kern often sat between the singers with her accordion, responded to the singing with free improvisations, accompanied the old movements colla parte or, as in the night concert on the second day, trumped with a grandiose solo piece penned by the American composer Earl Kim.
The symbiosis between old and new doesn’t always work, but on the other hand, there are enchantingly beautiful moments that reward the courage to think in new ways. The beguiling beat of the tam-tam in Veljo Tormis’ haunting prayer also stands for the opening up of the festival’s repertoire, moving away from former festivals for purists of early vocal music to a business card tailored entirely to singer pur.
In the end, the Sunday concert was a typical kaleidoscope of the pure singer universe. Motets by Ludwig Senfl, Hans Leo Hassler and Johannes Eccard from the 15th and 16th centuries met Arvo Pärt and pop arrangements by Sting as well as more recent works by Joanne Metcalf and Stanislava Stoytcheva. Antonio Ingegneri’s Agnus Dei, with its heartfelt plea for peace, sets the capstone after three intensive festival days, which were surrounded by an expectant aura of departure and new beginnings.